The multisite church movement is a quarter of a century old, and it looks very different from what it was when pioneers like Jim Tomberlin and Larry Osborne launched multiple campuses back in the 2000s. Multisite church strategies in 2025 are incorporating key concepts, like strong digital communications, church mergers, and optimizing existing, underutilized church real estate to facilitate their growing ministries.
One newer option that is easy to overlook is the ability to go multi-city, as well. You don’t have to be a megachurch to have locations in Austin and Houston in 2025. Heck, you don’t even have to be a particularly large church. The modern multisite church playbook has made the move to multi-city church a very real option for medium and large churches as they expand.
In this article, we’re going to look at the why behind considering multiple metropolises for your campuses.
The rise in the importance of digital church has heralded a dynamic shift in how we do church. Gone are the days when a single church stood at the center of a town and everyone flocked to it as the focal point of spirituality and community. Now, churches need to engage in effective outreach and impact to demonstrate their God-focused value to their local communities.
Digital platforms have become central elements of that outreach strategy, and people are tuning in from all over the place on Sunday morning. In 2022, Barna reported that 20% of churched adults were still attending exclusively online, and a further 26% were in a hybrid church attendance model.
As we’ve moved further away from the pandemic days, the number has dropped, but most reports we’ve seen still have the number around 10%. That means one in ten of your congregants is consistently engaging online and not in person. This new trend naturally removes territorial and boundary restrictions for millions of Christians across America.
Someone who likes your pastor’s preaching or your worship style can tune in from a hundred miles away — and chances are that’s already happening. These are engaged individuals who simply can’t be physically present on your primary campus on any given Sunday morning.
There are times when you have a cluster of digital attendees in specific areas. Often, this focuses on an urban center, where populations are denser. This is where multi-city expansion is becoming a natural next step of organic church growth. If you are in Cleveland and you find you have several dozen or even a hundred or more online viewers in Toledo or Columbus, you can consider opening a campus in those locations, knowing you have potential for instantly engaged attendees who already live in the area.
As with all multisite church strategies, it’s important to understand your limitations as you consider multi-city expansion. Just because a restaurant chain has a handful of willing patrons 1,000 miles away doesn’t mean they can open up a new location in the area. There are supply chain logistics and administrative hurdles that also factor into the mix.
In the same way, you want to approach a multi-city church strategy with a clear plan in place. This is why we created our Clear Path Forward process: to gather information and then clarify and solidify strategy before churches make major decisions.
If you know people are tuning in and you might want to expand not just across your city but your region, you need to know how to identify the right opportunities. LCBC Church is a good example of how to do this well. The megachurch has pulled off the impossible: growing a church to tens of thousands of people and over 20 locations across the Northeast. Many of these are three or four hours away from one another, too.
When Ministry Solutions Group Principal and Founder Nathan Artt interviewed LCBC Pastor David Ashcraft a couple of years ago, David had some profound insights into how to manage such a large group of churches. He started by saying they make sure to stay focused on their primary goal as a ministry.
“We’re laser-focused on introducing people to Jesus, and then trying to do what we can to help them follow Jesus, and we don’t veer from that much,” he said. “As I watch and talk to other pastors, watch other churches, they’ll say that that’s kind of their goal, but then they stray a lot.”
The solution, according to David Ashcraft? Learn to say no.
“And so, we say no — I probably spend a lot of my time saying no, we’re not going to do things that other people suggest. So one of our values is to say let’s do what’s best, not what’s good. Churches are constantly barraged. There’s a lot of good opportunities, and we say that it’s good, but it’s not best. So we’re constantly saying no to the good things, so we’re focused on the best.”
“It’s good, but it’s not best.” There is so much wisdom in that line. Others have done so through buying, leasing, or building campuses. Some stay local, others use technology to expand across geographic borders.
The growing number of multisite options is making strategy essential for church growth. You want to have a plan in place that aligns your mission with what’s best for your church. That way, you can gauge each opportunity and choose what’s best, whether it’s repurposing your existing space in Ann Arbor, opening up a new campus for your online audience in Pasadena, or anything in between.
If you need support formulating your growth strategy, we’re here to help. Our team has managed over $1 billion in church projects for many of the largest and fastest-growing churches in America. We have the wisdom and experience that can clarify your multisite projects and keep them aligned with mission as you seek to follow God’s path for your ministry and make disciples across cities, regions, and nations in 2025.